CHAPTER X. 



THE SPIRIT OF AUSTRALIA. 

 (A Study in Black and White.) 



CONSIDER what a potent element are black 

 and white birds in the out-door life of Aus- 

 tralia. It would probably be safe to say 

 that we have more of these spruce studies, in num- 

 bers if not in point of variety, than any other coun- 

 try in the world. Indeed, the very familiarity of 

 pied plumage tends to cause us to accept the colors 

 and their owners as a matter of course, and to over- 

 look the fact that, without them, there would be 

 much less brightness and good cheer in Australia. 



This conviction came to me with added force 

 when travelling, in 1918, with the French Mis- 

 sion in Queensland. The soldier-visitors saw a 

 good deal of the country areas, and, keen obser- 

 vers for the most part, they could not help 

 noticing that there were almost as many wayside 

 Wagtails, Pee-wees, Magpies, and pied Butcher- 

 Birds to greet them as there were school children 

 "and all as happy." Maybe, then, these vivacious 

 birds had something to do with the appreciation 

 aroused in Commandant d'Andre, who, as we swept 



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